Nick Tomlin, partner and co-founder, creative advertising and design agency, Tomlin Bean
My personal favourite is the mild cigar from Benson & Hedges. As the hapless golfer who can't get out of the bunker can confirm, "Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet." The commercial is filmed showing only wedges of sand rising from the bunker, the golfer invisible throughout. At the final moment of his frustration we hear a match strike and the strains of Bach's unmistakable Air on a G String before a puff of cigar smoke rises graciously into the clear blue sky.
This simple and dramatic idea was brought to our screens most effectively in a commercial entitled photo booth. In this commercial we see the "folically challenged" Gregor Fisher arranging his parting in preparation for a passport photograph. His frustration is compounded when the swivel chair in the booth collapses and he disappears below the line of the camera lens. From behind the curtain we hear the now familiar strike of a match and Bach's Air on a G String. A classic masterpiece—all 30 seconds of it.
Steve Strid, copywriter, global brand consultant co-author, with Claes Andréasson, of The Viking Manifesto, published by Cyan Books
Any piece of communication that makes a claim to people's time should give something back. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, in particular the Dove Evolution film, combines genuine social responsibility with a strong branding message. "No wonder our sense of beauty is distorted..." is something you want to shout out loud standing on...well...a soapbox.
I'm also a great fan of expressions that go from advertising slogans to pet phrases. In Sweden in the early 1990s, radio was deregulated, spawning 100 new radio stations literally overnight. Bandit Radio, an English-language rock format, had a slogan that has stayed with me: "Radio in Sweden sucks. We suck less."
Mark Tungate, author, ADLAND: A Global History of Advertising, published by Kogan Page
Bartle Bogle Hegarty's ads for Levi's have been consistently excellent, but my teenage soul responded to one of the very first, from 1986, in which a young man takes a bath in his shrink-to-fit jeans to the sound of Sam Cooke's Wonderful World. I bought the jeans and the record.
Later, I was hypnotised by BDDP's 1995 commercial for Tag Heuer watches. It dramatises how athletes use their imaginations to beat the clock: for instance, a swimmer is pursued by sharks, while a hurdler jumps razor blades. If I have a Tag on my wrist right now, it's because of that film, and not the cheesy Brad Pitt ads.
Geoffrey Bean, partner and co-founder, creative advertising and design agency, Tomlin Bean
"Have you ever wondered how the man who drives the snowplough drives to the snowplough?"
This question was posed in a commercial written by Bill Bernbach in 1963. A man leaves his home dressed in outdoor gear. The surrounding landscape is thickly covered with a heavy snowfall. We never see the man's face. We see his feet as he trudges to his car. We see only the car door as it closes.
The car starts first time and he drives away. We cut to the man getting out of his car. We cut to the snowplough starting and it rumbles out of frame revealing the Volkswagen Beetle parked behind. The voice over continues:
"This one drives a Volkswagen. So you can stop wondering."
A beautifully executed tale communicating ultimate reliability and sturdy manliness delivered with great style and wit.
In these fast-moving, short attention span times, have you ever wondered if there are any brand managers who would credit their customers with the time and intelligence to muse over such matters as snow plough drivers' commuting problems?
The answer is the brand manager at Volkswagen does. So you can stop wondering.
Kerry Glazer, managing director at AAR Communication agency
Too many campaigns come to mind. Pirelli (Carl Lewis), Artois (skating priests), Levi's jeans (swimmer), Honda (cog), Alka Seltzer (boat), Skoda (honest), Pot Noodle (slag). But two stand out.
The first is the epic, emotional British Airways "Face". The magnitude and colour of the execution coupled with its single-minded message made BA feel like a truly global airline. It never fails to bring a lump to my throat.
A more recent favourite is Sony Bravia "Balls". A brilliant creative idea coupled with masterful execution that really did the business for the brand and made me want a Bravia.
